The lives of hundreds of thousands of people were thrown into limbo after the Trump administration hit pause on reviewing their visa, green card, work permit and citizenship applications.
The pause is targeted at those born in one of 39 countries, including Nigeria, Myanmar and Venezuela. The U.S. imposed travel restrictions on most of those countries after an Afghan national shot two National Guardsmen on a Washington, D.C. street in late November.
Five months in, and the impact has been catastrophic for many people from those countries already living in the U.S., whether they're going to school or working in lucrative labor sectors like oil and gas, technology and medicine. NPR spoke with more than a dozen people on condition of anonymity, because they all fear adverse consequences for their immigration applications if they speak publicly. They asked NPR to not use their full names and name them only by their first initials.
Their experiences mirror each other: sudden financial insecurity, months of unemployment, academic and professional opportunities lost — and a crippling anxiety over the abrupt inability to live or work legally in the U.S.
The pause is just one part of a larger effort by the administration to restrict legal forms of migration and boost mass deportation of immigrants.
"It hit really hard because I was actually in line for a promotion in July," said A, who leads a cancer clinical research team in Ohio and is from Myanmar. She has been in the U.S. since 2016. Her work authorization, which has been renewed before, is now paused by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). "It's very disappointing to know that something I've been working really hard towards for the last few years is now going to be out of reach just because of where I was born."
The pause is also hurting some U.S. citizens who want to get legal status for their immigrant spouses — and the Americans who rely on foreign-born workers in dozens of key industries, from health care to cybersecurity. For example, in the U.S., both naturalized and noncitizen foreign-born workers work in STEM fields, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics, at slightly higher rates than U.S.-born workers, according to the latest data from the National Science Foundation.
The Trump administration says the pause is necessary while officials update the policies and procedures for reviewing these applications.
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Loss of opportunity is a common theme. M, who lives in Virginia and is from Nigeria, first came to the U.S. in 2011 for her undergraduate and master's degrees. She then pursued her medical degree and last month got into, or matched, with a surgery residency program in Oregon. But because of the hold, her visas and work permit processing are frozen. That means she may not be able to start her residency at all.
"I cried so much the day after my match, because I was overwhelmed with the fact that I worked so hard to get to this point. And I look around me and all my classmates are celebrating because they are celebrating with certainty," M said. She said her work permit had been pending for a month by the time matches for residency were announced.
"I had so much anxiety and uncertainty around me that, yes, I did take the pictures and I was very happy to match," she said. "But just because of my place of birth and my citizenship — that's taking it away from me."
Some immigrants said they paid up to $3,000 for what the USCIS calls premium processing, meaning their renewals and transfers should be decided in a matter of weeks, not months. No matter the payment, everyone from the list of travel ban countries have been left waiting.
"I really cannot move on with my life. And I really cannot contribute to the United States because I am from Nigeria," said P, who lives in Texas. He came to the U.S. in 2023 and graduated with an engineering masters degree in December. He said he had to turn down multiple job offers because his work permit cannot be processed. "I barely can feed [myself]. I barely can pay bills. It is overwhelming and sad."
Although originally labeled by officials as a temporary pause, some holds have already been dubbed "bans" in court.
For example, as a part of documents filed in a lawsuit challenging the pause, lawyers submitted a statement from then-USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser that said optional practical training applications, which allow international students to temporarily work, are banned specifically for Iranians and will not be processed.
The pause on processing applications means that those awaiting a decision could see their legal status lapse entirely — making them susceptible to immigration detention and deportation.
"There's no refund. It's a scam. It's a fraud," David Bier, director of immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, said about the premium processing. He estimates that the federal government has received over $1 billion in fees paid for these premium applications to be processed.
"Absolutely nothing has been done to make it easier to comply with the law. It's all about making it more difficult to comply with the law, and that is going to result in more people being arrested and deported," he said.
Trump vowed to provide a pathway, later reversed course
Among those affected are students who came to the U.S. on visas to pursue degrees — with the hope of receiving work authorization to stay for longer. While campaigning in 2024, President Trump told Silicon Valley investors that he supported legalizing foreign-born students.
"What I will do is — you graduate from a college, I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country, and that includes junior colleges," he said on the "All-In Podcast." "You have to be able to recruit these people, and keep the people."
"Somebody graduates at the top of their class and they can't even make a deal with a company because they don't think they are going to be able to stay in the country. That is going to end on Day One," he vowed.
Those promises fell by the wayside after Trump returned to the White House, and the administration began scrutinizing legal immigration processes.
The White House did not directly respond to the question about the change, but said the Trump administration's efforts on visas, including a new $100,000 fee for H-1B visas, is meant to end abuses in the program, focus on highest-skilled workers, and "ensure American workers are no longer replaced by lower-paid foreign labor."
Meanwhile, DHS argues that the pauses in place for people from travel banned nations are necessary.
"Verifying identities and personal histories from various countries requires a rigorous process — one that prioritizes the safety of the American people," a Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement to NPR. "USCIS has paused adjudications for aliens from President Trump's designated high-risk countries while we work to ensure they are vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible."
Others who support the hold on reviews said that the policy sends an important message, beyond domestic immigration policy.
"It sends a clear message that the American immigration system is not an entitlement program for high-risk applicants from countries that support terrorism and do not cooperate with the U.S. on basic international travel and immigration issues," said Brandy Perez Carbaugh, former research associate in the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation.
Not all countries were restricted for alleged connections to terrorism. Some, such as Senegal, Tonga and others, were included due to what the administration said were high rates of visa overstays. Of the 39 countries with a travel ban, about half have partial restrictions, meaning some people can still travel to the U.S. under particular categories. This includes certain dual citizens of other countries, those facing persecution in Iran and those traveling on specific visas.
Such exemptions do not help people already in the U.S. who are trying to renew their legal status or permission to work.
"Many of these people did everything they could to be on the right side of the law," Bier said. "And simply because the government just decided one day that they're not going to process their applications and not give them a decision they have no idea, 'Should I leave the country? Is my status expired?"
Up to millions of immigrants, and many U.S. citizens, impacted by the pause
There are at least 33 lawsuits challenging the pauses, filed by individuals as well as on behalf of large groups. Zachary New, an immigration attorney in Colorado, is one of those representing over 500 people impacted by the holds.
He estimates about half of all immigration applications currently at USCIS are impacted by these travel ban-linked pauses. The impact is wide-ranging: from spousal sponsorships to work permits to renewals for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program known as DACA for people from the 39 countries. A recent NPR analysis found there are nearly 12 million applications awaiting a decision from USCIS, with 247,000 that have not even been opened.
"We haven't [in the past] seen this large-scale interior enforcement and interior actions, especially against lawful immigrants," New said.
In the last year, DHS sharply turned its focus beyond border enforcement, into the "interior" of the country. It has taken steps to strip permission to be in the U.S., re-review already approved applications and slow down the rate of naturalizations — all steps that make people vulnerable to being placed in deportation proceedings. The travel ban-related pause, which administration said is necessary for national security, escalates the reach of immigration enforcement to those already in the country.
New also said he has clients who work in health care and other fields that provide services to the general public. "People who rely on the talent that immigrants bring to the United States are going to be hurt by this pause."
The pause is also directly impacting some U.S. citizens.
In 2024, Isaac Narvaez Gomez, a U.S. citizen born in Venezuela, reconnected with his childhood friend, a woman with triple citizenship: Venezuelan, Italian and Uruguayan. The pair married last summer and prepared to begin their new life in America.
"That was entirely on me. This is my country. I have no allegiance to any other country besides the United States," Narvaez Gomez said. But he said even though his wife was able to enter the U.S. with travel documents from her other countries, the couple ran into roadblocks when they began filing the paperwork for her to be a permanent resident; that process requires applicants to list their country of birth.
Narvaez Gomez quickly learned that the form he submitted to petition for his wife to get a green card was on hold. That hold has since been lifted, but Narvaez Gomez said the whole process is still stalled because other paperwork is impacted by the travel ban pause.
"This is something that is not only affecting immigrants, but it's also affecting U.S. citizens," Narvaez Gomez said, adding that the couple is barred from fully starting their life as newlyweds, such as creating joint bank accounts, traveling, buying a house, adding her to his health insurance or planning a family.
"It's been approximately five months and we have gotten no result," he said.
Overdue bills, lost jobs — and slow lawsuits
Earlier this month, a federal judge in Northern California issued a preliminary injunction mandating that USCIS issue a decision by May 18 on applications from 31 citizens of Iran and one citizen of Sudan who are waiting on work authorizations.
In that order, Judge Susan van Keulen said government lawyers confirmed the USCIS has a duty to issue a timely decision on an application — and also that the holds are indefinite, two contradictory arguments.
"The public interest at large would not be served by denial of a preliminary injunction, which would leave applicants … in immigration limbo while final adjudication of their applications for employment authorization remains on indefinite hold," van Keulen wrote. "This uncertainty would likely deter similarly-situated individuals from trying to work in those fields in the United States."
Other legal cases are moving more slowly.
New said his clients are relying on savings and trying to wait out this pause — or preparing to sell homes and either split up their families or travel to their home countries.
"These are all people who are trying to do things the right way. So by suddenly not having an option for doing things the right way, folks are kind of panicking," New said. "These aren't individuals who are suddenly jumping into the shadow economy and trying to work without authorization."
S is a U.S. citizen who last May married Charlotte, a woman from Haiti. S also asked us not to use his name to avoid any harm to his wife's immigration application. She had been in the U.S. legally as part of a Temporary Protected Status program since 2010. Last year, the Trump administration moved to cancel the program (that cancellation is also being litigated.)
"She handles millions of dollars of luxury residential leasing. Like she brings in millions of dollars of revenue for a major real estate company," S. said. Charlotte did not speak to NPR directly. S said the couple filed all necessary paperwork to start her pathway to citizenship last summer but the application is stuck and her precarious legal status leaves the couple uncertain of their future. "This is entrapment. It's deceit. It is despicable," S said.
L. is an assistant professor at a university in North Carolina. He and his wife were both born in Iran, have Canadian citizenship, and have been in and out of the U.S. for over a decade.
"I teach the brightest kids in this country. We give out Ph.D. degrees to the brightest kids, and somehow because I did the crime of being born in Iran, we are banned from obtaining our green card," he said. He said the travel ban pause shouldn't apply to them since they are dual nationals and are a part of the Kurdish minority, which faces discrimination from the ruling Iranian government.
He said there are five months left on his current H-1B visa, and he's also sought other ways around the deadlock, without success. "My employer is applying for the renewal in the next few days for me and my wife, but they have already told us there is no way it is going to be granted," he said.
New, the attorney in Colorado, said he has had to spend time managing clients' stress, even encouraging some to pursue other degrees so that they can at least extend their student visas. Other times, he's counseled families on what to do if they need to be split up, and talked to employers about losing personnel. This damage to people's future prospects and circumstances won't be easy to repair, he said.
"It's important to keep in mind how difficult it is for it to be undone," New said. "People are losing jobs. People are losing placement and medical residency. People are losing status. And those things are not something that just goes away by processing starting again."
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